Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display control apparatus and a control method of the same, and particularly relates to display technology of information relating to focus.
Description of the Related Art
There has been proposed a display apparatus that calculates a focus evaluation value of a subject by a ranging sensor and multiple imaging sensors, and displays a front-focus/back-focus state of a subject being imaged and the degree of off-focus, based on the evaluation value.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-365710 proposes displaying focus information regarding whether the focus state of a photographing lens is front focus, back focus, or in-focus, based on the focus state detected by a focus state detecting unit.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-279334 proposes displaying a marker offset by an amount corresponding to the deviation of the focus position from the in-focus portion, in a rotationally symmetric positional relation, when manually focusing.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-039206 proposes being able to perform face auto-focus (AF) where ranging is performed within the range of a detected face. Also proposed is being able to easily change to manual focus (MF) mode when in AF mode by a single operation of a predetermined operating member, and display a dialogue showing the state of focus position adjustment (to which position the focus position has moved), whereby the focus position can be adjusted.
There is known a crop shooting mode where an image is recorded based on signals read out from pixels of a partial region of the imaging sensor, not all effective pixels. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-175683 proposes being able to selected one or the other of a crop shooting mode where a cropping function is used, and a normal shooting mode where the cropping function is not used. Also proposed is a digital camera which can simultaneously acquire images of multiple regions within an image that has been imaged, by setting the size and position of multiple crop regions in the crop shooting mode.
There is also known an imaging apparatus that enables a part of a live view image to be displayed in an enlarged manner, so as to be confirmed in detail. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2013-201527 proposes being able to enlarge a live view image to 5 times or 10 times, where changing the position of the AF frame changes the enlarged position in accordance with the position thereof, but changing the enlarged position does not change the position of the AF frame.
The subject to be focused on does not necessarily exist at the middle of the image. Also, shooting moving images may involve the subject to be focused on moving within the image, or focus being changed from one subject to another subject. Accordingly, a target area for a guide display relating to focusing (called “focus-assist”) can preferably be set at an optional position within the image, and be movable.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-365710, the focus information is displayed outside of the image region within the display region. Accordingly, the subject to be focused on and the display position of the focus information are distanced from each other, leading to increased movement of the line of sight when adjusting focus while viewing both, so there has been problems with ease of use. On the other hand, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-279334, a marker of a constant area is displayed superimposed on the image regardless of the degree of off-focus, thereby impairing the visibility of the subject.
There are cases in the AF mode where it is useful to display the degree of focus, depending on the operating state of the AF, but the above-described Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2011-039206 and 2007-279334 had not sufficiently studied such cases. That is to say, the above-described Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2011-039206 and 2007-279334 have not enabled a guide display for a suitable degree of in-focus to be made in accordance with the AF operating state when in the AF mode.
In a case where a function for displaying focus information relating to a focus detection region such as in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2002-365710 and 2007-279334 is carried out in both the normal shooting mode and the crop shooting mode such as in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-175683, the following problem occurs. That is to say, when in the normal shooting mode, if the focus detection region is set on the outside of the region used in the crop shooting mode, and then switched to the crop shooting mode, the focus detecting region will be displayed at a position unrelated to the image shot in the crop shooting mode.
In the information display relating to focus such as in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2002-365710 and 2007-279334, displaying information relating to focus in live view at the position of the region where the information relating to the focus was acquired facilitates comprehension of what portion of the live view image the focus information pertains to. Now, when this is applied to a case where the live view image is enlarged, as in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2013-201527, the region where the information relating to focus has been acquired also increases in size in the live view display, so displaying the information relating to focus to match this region results in the information display also being large. Thus, if the display of information relating to focus is enlarged to match the enlargement of the live view image, increasing the enlargement scale of the live view image results in the region where the information relating to focus has been acquired not fitting in the range of the enlarged live view image being displayed. This has been a problem since the information display relating to focus cannot be appropriately displayed.
Also, when performing an enlarged display of part of the live view image as in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2013-201527, what part is desired to be enlarged differs depending on the situation. For example, in a case where information relating to focus is being displayed such as in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2002-365710 and 2007-279334, the focus point detection position where the focus information has been acquired might be desirable to be enlarged. However, constantly enlarging the focus point detection position is not necessarily desirable, and there also will be cases where the user wants to enlarge and confirm the state of a subject situated at other than the focus point detection position that has been set. There also are cases where the user does not place importance on the focus point detection position that has been set, and the user does not recognize the relationship between the subject that the user wants to enlarge and confirm and the focus point detection position that has been set.